Although ddn's news
coverage spans
the global drug discovery industry, we don't often have occasion
to report on Asia-based companies, as they rarely pursue large-figure mergers
and
acquisitions. This all changed this month, as we note in one of our cover
stories that Japanese pharmas are increasingly turning to M&As to bolster
anemic drug pipelines—and as a result, the opportunity arose to report on
several Japan-based firms.

But days after we dug into our stories about Kyowa
Hakko
Kirin Co. Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. and Fujifilm Corp., the unthinkable
happened: On March 11, an 8.9
magnitude earthquake rocked Japan, triggering a
tsunami that claimed thousands of lives and caused extensive damage across the
northern regions of the
country.

We had difficulty arranging interviews last year, when the
Iceland volcano eruption
stranded many companies for weeks in their spring
conference travels, but this experience was different. This was catastrophic.
This was dire.

With Japan struggling to deal with unimaginable loss and
battling aftershocks and power outages, it was clear
to us that interviews with
these companies were not likely to happen—and our communication with them
focused on concern for their safety and health.

"Please understand our present situation," said Hidenori
Ishii, a spokesman for Kyowa Hakko, via
e-mail. "We cannot arrange an
interview." Ishii confirmed that Kyowa Hakko's employees were safe, and that the
company's operations were
unaffected, but early in the month, many other
Japanese companies reported that some of their employees were missing. Daiichi
Sankyo reported employee
injuries and damage to some of its manufacturing
plants.

These events have interfered with these
companies' ability
to discuss their recent deals and plans for the future. Business in Japan has
been severely disrupted. The stock market in Japan is
on shaky ground.

But given the gravity of this catastrophe, reporting this
seems almost hollow
when the Japanese people are taking their first steps
toward the leviathan effort of rebuilding much of their country. The scenes out
of Japan are
horrifying: Walls of ocean water destroying whole cities and
pulverizing homes, hospitals and businesses; Japanese citizens searching in
vain for their
lost loved ones; smoke rising from crippled nuclear plants. It's
one of the worst natural disasters to affect mankind in centuries.

Then, some good news came: The American and European
companies that have partnered with these Japanese firms, or do
business in
Japan, confirmed to us that their colleagues abroad were safe and sound, and
their recent dealings with them should not be affected.

Kimberley Sirk, who reports this month on Fujifilm's acquisition
of the Merck BioManufacturing Network, found out through Fujifilm's New York
office that the
corporation's Tokyo office was open and operational. Lori
Lesko, who reports on Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.'s sale of its Athena
Diagnostics and Lancaster Laboratories businesses, shares that Thermo Fisher
Scientific was worried about its Japanese operations, but
none of the company's
400 employees in Japan were hurt or injured. All were located in facilities out
of harm's way in southern Tokyo, Yokohama,
Osaka and smaller cities when the
first tremor struck.

These concerns were not lost on the pharma
and biotech
industries, as many of them stepped up to extend a helping hand in the way of
charitable donations and relief supplies. You can read about
many of these
commendable efforts in a blog post by our associate editor, Kelsey Kaustinen,
at www.drugdiscoverynews.com/blog/. We were quite intrigued by
Fujifilm's
reaction to the disaster. As Sirk reports, the company not only donated several
diagnostic ultrasound systems and masks for dust and virus
protection, it also
switched off its outdoor advertising and refrained from using non-urgent
electricity use in an effort to conserve power.

Our editorial team did our best to convey our concern and
support for these companies as well as the
Japanese people, and our contacts in
Japan kindly responded with great appreciation: "Thank you for the warm
message. We wish to express our gratitude
for the support from all over the
world," Ishii wrote via e-mail.

Ever a source of cultural
inspiration, the Japanese have a
saying that has almost become a mantra in the wake of this disaster: "Ganbare."
Loosely translated to English as
"Hang in there," it's a popular form of
encouragement among the Japanese people. While words are often inadequate in
times like these, we at
ddn would like
to extend our warmest wishes to the Japanese companies we cover, the companies
around the world who do business there and the
Japanese people as a whole.
Ganbare, Japan. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.